Xtremehorticulture

Growing Cherries in Las Vegas

Q. Since I had NO luck with mango seeds and very minimal luck getting avocado to sprout (I get roots but no sprouts) I thought I could use more frustration in my life and will try cherry pits. Is this possible to get them to sprout and what is the best way to do it? Growing cherries in Las Vegas was disappointing unless you have a high humidity backyard. Cherry pollination may be susceptible to a low humidity. A. I have not grown cherry trees from seed. I have grown both sweet and sour cherry trees in our desert, but they were purchased already grafted to a rootstock. Cherry trees are usually purchased grafted, not sprouted from seed. This is because grafted trees are oftentimes “different” from a tree which has been grown on its own roots.             In any case, have fun sprouting the seed but use it as a flowering ornamental tree. Sour cherries are somewhat tart (traditional pie cherry), a smaller tree (10 to 15 feet tall, think ‘Montmorency’ and ‘North Star’ varieties) and produce a small amount of fruit in four or five years in the desert. Sweet cherries are more “temperamental” and may or may not produce fruit. I believe it is due to our low humidity. ‘Hachiya’ persimmon produces fruit that is probably some of the best I have tasted in the world including the sweet flavor of the Philippine mango variety called ‘Guimaras’. But that variety of persimmon may be susceptible to the low humidity of the desert.             The seed is in a hard pit produced at the center of the cherry fruit. Select seed from ripe fruit that you want to grow (sweet vs sour, good ripe color, free from deformities, and good size). The cherry “pits”, or seed, are put in the refrigerator, moistened, and kept there for at least one month. The moist seed “sprouts” in about one month or longer at refrigerator temperatures and is then ready to plant. Place sprouted seed in a one-gallon container or smaller peat pot first before moving it to a larger container. Larger containers are okay to use when the plant is bigger. This is the sour cherry called ‘Montmorency’ growing in Las Vegas.             Cherries, both sweet and sour, are “hit and miss” at fruit production in Las Vegas. It seems if you have higher humidity in the landscape (nondesert areas or lawns and pools in the desert) have the best chance of producing fruit. They will always produce flowers that attract bees when they are sexually mature, but actual pollination of the flowers may be sensitive to humidity. Unexpectedly, the same is true in the desert of the ‘Hachiya’ variety of persimmon. An abundance of fruit of both cherries and ‘Hachiya’ persimmon sometimes occurs after a rain. Green or immature ‘Hachiya’ persimmon in Las Vegas.             You realize, I hope, that the resultant seedling is sexual in nature. That means that the seedling is “combined” from two different parents or two different varieties or types of cherry trees. Buying a grafted tree makes sure the fruit is “true to the variety”.

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Colder than Normal Spring Weather and Tomatoes

Q. We read your early spring article in the RJ on tomatoes and planted 6 plants in mid-March.  We planted a mix of ‘Sweet 100s’, ‘Champion’ and another plum tomato.  We have been watering, using Miracle Gro for tomatoes and watching them closely.  The plants appear stunted.  We have them in cages, and they have only grown a short distance up the cage. Any suggestions? The smaller tomatoes, pear, cherry and grapes are always a sure thing in Las Vegas. The larger tomato is ‘Black from Tula’, an heirloom type. When the spring season is long and cooler, tomatoes do better. A. Planting dates for tomatoes in our climate can range from mid-February to mid-March. Watch the weather and use your weather app on your phone. It’s been cold lately. Wait for temperatures to warm up a bit. Tomatoes are a “warm season” crop, and they prefer soil and air temperatures a bit warmer than our spring provides at times. Our spring temperatures have been erratic. Low soil temperatures can slow tomato growth even if the air temperatures are high.  Its short stature gives this away as a determinate type of tomato.             About a week before you are to plant tomatoes, cover the soil with clear plastic and seal the edges. This is so the warm temperatures under the plastic don’t “leak out”. Warm the soil temperature to at least 65 F in the top few inches. I would slit the plastic and plant at that temperature. A soil thermometer stuck in the soil an inch or two deep helps you to check it. Tomatoes can be started a bit earlier if the soil is covered with plastic and there is good weather.             Raised beds in full sun warm up much faster in the spring than those raised beds in the shadow of a wall or home. Have two raised beds: one for early production in the spring and another for later production.

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Winter Cold and Chilling Hours May Not Be Cherry Problem

Sweet cherry growing in North Las Vegas Nevada Q. I have a two-year-old pie cherry tree that needs so many days of cold weather to set fruit next year. Should I cover it with burlap for the winter? And if I do, then should I also cover the trunk or just the branches?   English Morello sour cherry in North Las Vegas Nevada A. How much protection you give it during the winter depends on where you live and your lowest temperatures during winter. Cherries are divided into two categories; sweet cherries and sour cherries. Sweet cherries are for eating fresh, out of hand. Sour cherries are considered “pie cherries” and used fresh or canned.             Sour cherries grow as far north as Michigan so I don’t think low temperatures are going to be a problem unless you live in northern climates. If you don’t live that far north, you don’t need to protect them through the winter. Bing cherry produced on sweet cherry tree in North Las Vegas Nevada. Don’t get excited. Twenty-five sweet cherry trees of six varieties produced twelve cherries in twelve years. Backyards in other locations in the Valley, sweet cherries were plentiful.             Chilling hours is the number of hours needed below 45°F to recognize winter is finished. When the number of chilling hours have been met, the plant waits for warm temperatures of spring so that it can begin flowering again.             Chilling hours are important but I think they are sometimes overestimated by growers and scientists. In the Las Vegas Valley, our chilling hours are estimated to be somewhere between 300 to 400 hours depending on winter temperatures.             I have grown five sour cherries in the Las Vegas climate and have had no problems with flowering even though many of them are rated between 400 to 500 hours. I have had problems getting fruit from the flowers. A lack of chilling does not appear to be a problem for sweet and sour cherries grown in Las Vegas.             I think the problem of setting fruit in the desert is more likely a humidity problem. Trees growing in backyard residences with pools or lawns set fruit each year in the Mojave Desert. Low humidity and failure to set fruit is a common problem with many tropical trees, with 30% relative humidity seeming to be the lower limit for successful fruit set.

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